Collaborative agreement between Kéroul and the Design for All Foundation

Following the Destinations for All World Summit held in Montréal last October, Kéroul and the Design for All Foundation reached an agreement whereby Kéroul will represent the Foundation across the Americas. For its part, the Design for All Foundation will contribute to certain projects put forward by Kéroul.

Founded in Barcelona in 2001, the Design for All Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to disseminate and encourage the use of Design for All (or Universal Design) principles around the world.

Design for All is the intervention into environments, products and services that aims to ensure that anyone, including future generations, regardless of age, gender, ability or cultural background, can participate in social, economic, cultural and leisure activities with equal opportunities. Design for All should be implemented in all areas because human beings are diverse and everyone has the desire, need and right to be independent and to choose their own lifestyle without having to face physical and social barriers.

The Foundation collects and disseminates good practices and significant achievements that respect people’s diversity, ensuring that everyone enjoys equal opportunities for personal development. The Foundation has established a number of collaborative networks: Towns and Cities for All, User-Centred Business, Museum for All and Society for All.

Kéroul is a non-profit organization dedicated to making tourism and culture accessible to people with restricted physical ability. Founded in Montréal in 1979, Kéroul acts as the Ministère du Tourisme du Québec’s key consultant. As such, the Ministère fully recognizes Kéroul’s evaluations and certifications regarding the accessibility of tourism establishments as well as the training of front-line employees.

Kéroul organized the first Destinations for All World Summit where the Declaration One World for Everyone was adopted. This declaration is an international action plan that aims to coordinate the actions of partners and pool their expertise, as well as build a global network facilitating inclusive tourism and a society for all. This declaration was endorsed by the World Committee on Tourism Ethics at its meeting in Rome in November 2014 and presented at UN’s Forum on Accessible Tourism in Washington on November 17.

It is in this spirit of international collaboration that the presidents and founders of these two non-profit organizations—Francesc Aragall and André Leclerc—decided to mutually support their actions.

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For more information on the Design for All Foundation and Kéroul, please consult their respective websites: www.designforall.org and www.keroul.qc.ca.

Sources:

Michel Trudel, Kéroul (Tel.: 1 514 252-3104; mtrudel@keroul.qc.ca)

Imma Bonet, Design for All Foundation (Tel.: 34 93 470 51 18; ibonet@designforall.org)